The photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand, concerned about the pollution generated from his activities, decided in January 2006 to finance projects that reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and promote sustainable development in emerging nations. GoodPlanet, a non-profit association that he chairs, decided in partnership with the ADEME (French Environment and Energy Management Agency) in October 2006 to provide means to the public to do the same and combine forces to fight against global warming, giving birth to the Action Carbone program.

Our Strategy

Contributing to fight against global warming means a multiple long-term strategy. Priority is given to avoid GHG emissions at source by adopting economic and responsible behaviour. This approach implies the identification of your emissions either through the Carbon Evaluation tool (Bilan Carbone®) or our online calculator. Once the GHG emissions have been assessed, Action Carbone offers private companies, individuals and other entities the option to offset their GHG emissions by buying the Verified Emission Reductions (VERs) generated from our projects. Voluntary offsetting is a response to emissions considered to be incompressible. It is not aimed at minimizing feelings of guilt in relation to GHG emissions but is rather a complementary method of action and responsibility.

Target Sectors

Target Offsetting for Companies and Public Institutions Carbon neutral companies or public institutions: Offsetting program of the total amount of emissions generated by operational activities (buildings, transport, etc.)
Carbon neutral traffic: Offsetting of emissions linked to business trips (air travel/car transport)
Carbon neutral event: Offsetting of emissions linked to a particular event (conference, festival, etc.) 

Offsetting for individuals
Air travels: offsetting of emissions produced by air traffic (private trips, holidays, etc.)
Cars: Offsetting of emissions caused by cars transportation (frequent or occasional use)
Home: Offsetting of emissions generated by domestic energy consumption (heating, electricity, etc.) 

Action Carbone tools Individuals: To estimate your emissions, Action Carbone developed an online calculator www.actioncarbone.org, approved by the ADEME
Companies/ Public Institutions: Action Carbone is accredited to conduct the Bilan Carbone ®, an instrument of quantification of GHG emissions induced by economic and administrative activity developed by the ADEME 

Our partners Accenture, Arval, Cortal Consors, Voyages SNCF, Yves Rocher, French Ministry of Ecology and Sustainable Development, monagence.com, National Citer, Poweo… Furthermore: Carbox, Euromobile, Festival Européen des Entreprises Responsables, Location Vacances Express, Novaxel, Objectif Nature, Pierre et Vacances Avoriaz, Sélectour, Techno Parade, Veolia Environment..

Ethical Commitments Transparent Management and NON-PROFIT policy: The funds collected are systematically used to run projects encouraging voluntary carbon offsetting. 15 percent of the funding gathered is subtracted in order to pay the operating costs of Action Carbone. Like most of the associations of public interest in France; GoodPlanet issues an official receipt that allows donators to deduct a certain amount from their tax bill. 

"Action Carbone differs notably in one aspect from most of the participants in the Carbon Market:
a non-profit approach"

Work and Activities

Action Carbone attempts to follow the Clean Development Mechanism’s (CDM) rules as much as possible. Nevertheless, due to the CDM’s high costs and complex and time-consuming procedures Action Carbone decided to work on a more informal basis.
Action Carbone fosters the use of recognized standards. However, if such documents prevent project developers in poor nations from implementing projects featuring capacity building, technology transfer, equality, poverty alleviation, employment creation and sustainable development the renowned standard might be overlooked.

 Action Carbone’s practices remain flexible, transparent and trustworthy.

Selection process

Action Carbone differs notably in one aspect from most of the participants in the Carbon Market: a non-profit approach.
We work with Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and non-profit associations that support small-scale energy efficiency or renewable energy projects. Such projects must be additional and must promote sustainable development.
A field visit takes place; we analyze the opportunities, barriers and risks the project presents and validate it. We also handle and encourage our respective partners to keep conservative figures. 

Other activities

Since the Voluntary Carbon Market is still not regulated, Action Carbone has been invited to lead negotiations within the French Voluntary Carbon Market Working Group -- organized by the ADEME -- with the objective of establishing a stricter and reliable framework in France.
Among its innovative proposals, Action Carbone urges the need to include Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) in any future structure.

Achivements

Accomplishments

For almost 18 months now, funds have been channelled to compensate around 50 000 tons of CO2 equivalent.
Action Carbone has worked for over 1 100 donors and 40 private companies.
So far, Action Carbone has 9 projects validated that have an on-going status and many more in the pipeline.
Action Carbone has contact with more than 30 different non-profit associations dealing with emission reductions and sustainable development related projects in Asia, Latin America, Eastern Europe and Africa.

Media Coverage

Action Carbone benefits from the fame and recognition of the man behind this non-profit association: Yann Arthus-Bertrand.
Yann Arthus-Bertrand has been raising awareness in France about the importance of preserving our natural resources and reducing our energy consumption. He calls for action to counteract the alarming threat posed to our planet by global warming.
Yann has aired a series of programs on national television called: “Earth from above” with different topics including water, sea, earth and biodiversity. These programs have received great acceptance from the French public.
Yann has offset the emissions from his activities through Action Carbone and he communicates it at the end of each program.
Further, most of the French media has covered Action Carbone’s activities. 

Sample Project Activity

"One average Composite Vermicompost Bioreactor has the potential to reduce over 10 tCO2e/year"

Title: Arakalagudu Composite Vermicompost Biogas Project

Project Developer: SKG Sangha ; NGO

Location: Hassan District in Karnataka State; INDIA

Project Objectives:

• Women’s empowerment
• Sanitation and Water Conservation
• Elimination of Indoor Air Pollution
• Rural Employment Creation
• Capacity Building
• Poverty Alleviation
• Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security
• Abatement of GHG emissions

Baseline Situation

Most of the families in rural India use firewood, dried dung cake and/or kerosene as fuel for cooking and lighting. Women and children collect wood for some hours several days a week. This practice encourages deforestation. Collecting wood and cooking with it in the traditional cook-stove take considerable time. Women, who are in charge of these chores, do not perceive any income so they depend entirely on men for their needs.
Furthermore, the smoke coming from the traditional firewood stove and kerosene burning affects their wellbeing. Indoor air pollution is a major cause of health problems in women and children.

Most of the villages are unhygienic with unmanaged solid residues: kitchen and animal wastes.
Farmers are also confronting tough circumstances. Actually, several farmers in India have committed suicide due to repeated crop failure, inability to meet the rising cost of cultivation and indebtedness.

Because of the indiscriminate use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides the expenditure on agriculture has gone up and land fertility has come down resulting in lower crop yields.

Finally, the use of kerosene, wood and chemical fertilizers contributes to the global emissions of greenhouse gases. Moreover, wastewater and unmanaged solid waste also produce greenhouse gases.
This situation calls for urgent action! 

Project Description

To change this situation SKG Sangha developed a system called ‘Composite Vermicompost Bioreactor’. It mainly consists of two main parts: a family size bioreactor and a vermicompost production unit.

This project aims to diffuse about 500 composite vermicompost bioreactors. SKG Sangha will conduct capacity building activities to speed up the diffusion process. Rural people will be trained on how to construct efficient units and employment will be created.
The untreated animal excrements, kitchen waste and wastewater will be managed properly when fed into the biodigester. The so-called biogas is produced in this biodigester as a result of bacteria activity that decomposes the organic matter in an anaerobic environment. This biogas is a clean fuel used for cooking and lighting.

Estimation of Emission Reductions

One average Composite Vermicompost Bioreactor has the potential to reduce over 10 tons of CO2 equivalent (tCO2eq)/year. 

Action Carbone’s VERs

With the purpose of remaining conservative, minimizing risks and claiming only the amount of Emission Reductions needed to finance the whole project, Action Carbone proposed to SKG Sangha the option to employ a figure of approximately 6.5 tCO2eq/year/unit.

Five or six years will be chosen as the crediting period depending on the verification costs of a third party entity.

The quantity of reductions expected from this project are in the range of 17 200 VERs.